Fire site pair gave cash to Labor

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Twisted wreckage and little else remained after the fire in the Flemington paper warehouse in November.Photo: Jason South

Two companies that received favourable treatment from Premier
Steve Bracks in a $25 million apartment and car park development
are significant donors to the Victorian Labor Party.

Mr Bracks promised to expedite planning processes for the
Lombard's site in Mount Alexander Road, Flemington, after fire
destroyed the company's warehouse last November. Two months later,
the Government took over planning controls for the site from Moonee
Valley Council.

The Sunday Age can reveal that the Bensons Property
Group, which is developing the site, has donated at least $72,620
to the Victorian Labor Party and its fund-raising arm, the
Progressive Business Association, since July 2002. Figures for
2004-05 are not available.

Lombard the Paper People, which is selling the site and will
have a showroom in the redevelopment, has donated at least $10,000
to the Progressive Business Association.

In February, Mr Bracks said he wanted the site "restored and
renovated" before the Commonwealth Games. A planning bureaucrat
told residents speedy approvals would ensure the site was developed
by next March.

But a spokeswoman for the Department of Sustainability and
Environment said last week that Bensons had four years to complete
the development.

Lombard's owner, Claude Lombard, said: "It's frustrating but the
process seems to be slower than I expected I don't know why.
The Government wanted us to get back on track real fast because
we're doing the Commonwealth Games decorations and we need
to be back at our site.

" All I know is that I'm pretty annoyed about it."

Bensons has signed a contract to buy the land and plans to build
two apartment blocks, with 140 units, a car park, a plaza and a
showroom for Lombard's.

Planning Minister Rob Hulls said on March 24 that redevelopment
was set to start following approvals.

But Bensons' executive director Michael Foley told The Sunday
Age the Government wanted several minor design amendments.
These had been submitted but not yet approved, and Bensons did not
have a start date for the project.

Mr Foley said the company had not asked the Government to take
over planning controls. He did not believe the company's political
donations were a significant issue and it made even contributions
to both major parties.

Bensons also was a significant contributor to federal Treasurer
Peter Costello's fund-raiser, the Higgins 200 Club.

Bensons' chairman, Elias Jreissati, has said he counts Mr Bracks
among his personal friends. But Mr Bracks has said his relationship
with the group is professional and he had only known the developer
since becoming Premier.

The former secretary of the Progressive Business Association,
Vicki Yianoulatos, earlier this year was listed on Bensons' website
as its manager of strategic development.

"The Premier has been intimately involved but has not been able
to explain why this has been done," he said. "It has nothing
substantive to do with Commonwealth Games, nothing substantive to
do with Lombard's, this has fast-tracked a block of flats for a
mate."

Mr Baillieu called for an independent investigation. "It is one
of the first firsts for the Premier, to turn up next morning at a
burnt-out building and declare he is going to expedite a planning
permit for the replacement," Mr Baillieu said.

"He couldn't possibly have done this on a whim, he must have had
information provided to him. What was the information, when did he
get it and is it consistent with what we see on the site at the
moment?"

Mr Lombard said he had met Mr Bracks "a couple of times", but
had no personal relationship with him. He also denied the company's
donation was a factor, saying Lombard's was seen as important to
the state because it supplied decorations and products for every
major event.

Moonee Valley Mayor Lydia Kauzlaric said the council had always
been confident it could deal with the development and was surprised
at the Government's actions. The council had rezoned the site
before the fire and had worked with the architects.

Margaret Hagger, from the Travancore residents' group, said she
had hoped for a landmark building to symbolise the site being on
the route to the goldfields. But residents would be "confronted by
yet another grotty, very large block of apartments with 240 car
spaces".

A spokeswoman for Mr Bracks denied donations were a factor in
the Government's decision. She said portable buildings to house
athletes at the Games village were being stored on part of the
site.